High-level production of recombinant fungal endo-beta-1,4-xylanase in the methylotrophic yeast Pichia pastoris.

Efficient production of recombinant Aspergillus niger family 11 1, 4-beta-xylanase was achieved in Pichia pastoris. The cDNA-encoding XylA fused to the Saccharomyces cerevisiae invertase signal peptide was placed under the control of the P. pastoris AOX1 promoter. Secretion yields up to 60 mg/liter were obtained in synthetic medium. The recombinant XylA was purified to homogeneity using a one-step purification protocol and found to be identical to the enzyme overexpressed in A. niger with respect to size, pI, and immunoreactivity. N-terminal sequence analysis of the recombinant protein indicated that the S. cerevisiae signal peptide was correctly processed in P. pastoris. The purified protein has a molecular weight of 19,893 Da, in excellent agreement with the calculated mass, and appears as one single band on isoelectric focusing with pI value around 3.5. Electrospray ionization mass spectrometry confirmed the presence of one major isoform produced by P. pastoris and the absence of glycosylation. The recombinant enzyme was further characterized in terms of specific activity, pH profile, kinetic parameters, and thermostability toward birchwood xylan as substrate and compared with the xylanase purified from A. niger. Both enzymes exhibit a pH optimum at 3.5 and maximal activity at 50 degrees C. The enzyme activity follows normal Michaelis-Menten kinetics with K(m) and V(max) values similar for both enzymes. P. pastoris produced recombinant xylanase in high yields that can be obtained readily as a single form. A. niger xylanase is the first microbial xylanase efficiently secreted and correctly processed by P. pastoris.

Purification of cytosolic beta-glucosidase from pig liver and its reactivity towards flavonoid glycosides.

Flavonoid glycosides are common dietary components which may have health-promoting activities. The metabolism of these compounds is thought to influence their bioactivity and uptake from the small intestine. It has been suggested that the enzyme cytosolic beta-glucosidase could deglycosylate certain flavonoid glycosides. To test this hypothesis, the enzyme was purified to homogeneity from pig liver for the first time. It was found to have a molecular weight (55 kDa) and specific activity (with p-nitrophenol glucoside) consistent with other mammalian cytosolic beta-glucosidases. The pure enzyme was indeed found to deglycosylate various flavonoid glycosides. Genistein 7-glucoside, daidzein 7-glucoside, apigenin 7-glucoside and naringenin 7-glucoside all acted as substrates, but we were unable to detect activity with naringenin 7-rhamnoglucoside. Quercetin 4'-glucoside was a substrate, but neither quercetin 3, 4'-diglucoside, quercetin 3-glucoside nor quercetin 3-rhamnoglucoside were deglycosylated. Estimates of K(m) ranged from 25 to 90 microM while those for V(max) were about 10% of that found with the standard artificial substrate p-nitrophenol glucoside. The non-substrate quercetin 3-glucoside was found to partially inhibit deglycosylation of quercetin 4'-glucoside, but it had no effect upon activity with p-nitrophenol glucoside. This study confirms that mammalian cytosolic beta-glucosidase can deglycosylate some, but not all, common dietary flavonoid glycosides. This enzyme may, therefore, be important in the metabolism of these compounds.

Quercetin inhibits hydrogen peroxide-induced oxidation of the rat lens.

Cataract results from oxidative damage to the lens. The mechanism involves disruption of the redox system, membrane damage, proteolysis, protein aggregation and a loss of lens transparency. Diet has a significant impact on cataract development, but the individual dietary components responsible for this effect are not known. We show that low micromolar concentrations of the naturally-occurring flavonoid, quercetin, inhibit cataractogenesis in a rat lens organ cultured model exposed to the endogenous oxidant hydrogen peroxide. Other phenolic antioxidants, (+)epicatechin and chlorogenic acid, are much less effective. Quercetin was active both when incubated in the culture medium together with hydrogen peroxide, and was also active when the lenses were pre-treated with quercetin prior to oxidative insult. Quercetin protected the lens from calcium and sodium influx, which are early events leading to lens opacity, and this implies that the non-selective cation channel is protected by this phenolic. It did not, however, protect against formation of oxidized glutathione resulting from H2O2 treatment. The results demonstrate that quercetin helps to maintain lens transparency after an oxidative insult. The lens organ culture/hydrogen peroxide (LOCH) model is also suitable for examining the effect of other dietary antioxidants.

A novel class of protein from wheat which inhibits xylanases.

We have purified a novel class of protein that can inhibit the activity of endo-beta-1,4-xylanases. The inhibitor from wheat (Triticum aestivum, var. Soisson) is a glycosylated, monomeric, basic protein with a pI of 8.7-8.9, a molecular mass of 29 kDa and a unique N-terminal sequence of AGGKTGQVTVFWGRN. We have shown that the protein can inhibit the activity of two family-11 endo-beta-1, 4-xylanases, a recombinant enzyme from Aspergillus niger and an enzyme from Trichoderma viride. The inhibitory activity is heat and protease sensitive. The kinetics of the inhibition have been characterized with the A. niger enzyme using soluble wheat arabinoxylan as a substrate. The Km for soluble arabinoxylan in the absence of inhibitor is 20+/-2 mg/ml with a kcat of 103+/-6 s-1. The kinetics of the inhibition of this reaction are competitive, with a Ki value of 0.35 microM, showing that the inhibitor binds at or close to the active site of free xylanase. This report describes the first isolation of a xylanase inhibitor from any organism.

Specificities of the enzymes of N-alkyltropane biosynthesis in Brugmansia and Datura.

The enzymes N-methylputrescine oxidase (MPO), the tropine-forming tropinone reductase (TRI), the pseudotropine-forming tropinone reductase (TRII), the tropine:acyl-CoA transferase (TAT) and the pseudotropine:acyl-CoA transferase (PAT) extracted from transformed root cultures of Datura stramonium and a Brugmansia candida x aurea hybrid were tested for their ability to accept a range of alternative substrates. MPO activity was tested with N-alkylputrescines and N-alkylcadaverines as substrates. TRI and TRII reduction was tested against a series of N-alkylnortropinones, N-alkylnorpelletierines and structurally related ketones as substrates. TAT and PAT esterification tests used a series of N-substituted tropines, pseudotropines, pelletierinols and pseudopelletierinols as substrates to assess the formation of their respective acetyl and tigloyl esters. The results generally show that these enzymes will accept alien substrates to varying degrees. Such studies may shed some light on the overall topology of the active sites of the enzymes concerned.

Metabolism of ferulic acid to vanillin. A bacterial gene of the enoyl-SCoA hydratase/isomerase superfamily encodes an enzyme for the hydration and cleavage of a hydroxycinnamic acid SCoA thioester.

A gene encoding a novel enoyl-SCoA hydratase/lyase enzyme for the hydration and nonoxidative cleavage of feruloyl-SCoA to vanillin and acetyl-SCoA was isolated and characterized from a strain of Pseudomonas fluorescens. Feruloyl-SCoA is the CoASH thioester of ferulic acid (4-hydroxy-3-methoxy-trans-cinnamic acid), an abundant constituent of plant cell walls and a degradation product of lignin. The gene was isolated by a combination of mutant complementation and biochemical approaches, and its function was demonstrated by heterologous expression in Escherichia coli under the control of a T7 RNA polymerase promoter. The gene product is a member of the enoyl-SCoA hydratase/isomerase superfamily.